Almond-crusted Chanterelles

Hey everyone!

It's the perfect time of year for amazing mushrooms. Shiitakes, maitakes, boletes, truffles, oysters, cat's tongues, and one of my personal favorites, chanterelles. A few of my very good friends and I went out into the woods recently and brought back a HUGE bag of chanterelles! (We also acquired some boletes, cat's tongues, shrimp mushrooms, and a bunch of non-edibles that my friend wanted to study!)
Note: Don't go looking for edible mushrooms in the forest unless you're experienced or have someone with you that knows the difference between species! Some species are very hard to differentiate between!

Chanterelles are not only one of my favorites because they have a beautifully smooth, creamy texture, but they're also very common and in abundance this part of the year. When we lived in our last house in BC, I could go for walks in the park next door with a bag and harvest a pound or two occasionally. They're also quite versatile - you can fry, bake, boil, or dry these cute little dudes and they always withstand the treatments I give them. :) A creamy chanterelle soup is a pretty popular (and delicious!!) standby, but I generally like just cooking and eating them!

The best way to bring out their beautiful flavor before adding them to any food, is to dry fry them without oil or salt. They have a high water content so they won't burn. I, however, am a rebel (as you may have noticed), so I'm going to dredge and fry them in their raw form!

Do you remember the Almond-Crusted Tofu that I made? It had such a lovely, crisp texture, and I had a hunch it would translate well to mushrooms. When we came back from our mushroom hunt, I fried these little babies up while Sandra made a huge pot of silky, delicately delicious soup. :) It was such an amazing day, with an intoxicatingly delicious end.

Almond-Crusted Chanterelles

1 pound raw Chanterelle mushrooms
1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup tapioca starch
salt and pepper to taste
oil for frying (I used coconut oil)

In a deep, non-stick pan or pot, heat oil (about an inch deep) on medium-high heat. You want it just hot enough to make the end of a chopstick bubble if you dip it in.

While the oil is heating, mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Next, dredge the mushrooms in the almond mixture, making sure to get a thick coating. If you need a bit more dry mixture, you can add a couple more tablespoons of meal and a couple teaspoons of starch.

When the oil is hot, gently lay the mushrooms into the pan. They're ready to flip in a couple minutes when they start to turn brown.

When the crispy 'shrooms are browned on both sides, drain on paper towels.


Don't these look like cute little vegan pork chops?! We served these with a raw ketchup (pictured) that I made the day before, which I will make another batch of tomorrow and post next. :)

Also: please forgive the poor photo quality! My camera broke so I'll be using my phone's camera for awhile to photograph my food.